Decorative window coverings are popular items for providing privacy and blocking light. These window coverings take on various forms, such as Roman shades, Venetian blinds, vertical blinds, honeycomb shades, and the like. Typically, window coverings include a panel or plurality of panels that cover an opening, which are connected to an adjustment mechanism with one or more control members.
For example, one popular type of window covering is known as a Roman shade. This type of shade consists of a fabric material attached along its top edge to a head rail and is gathered at spaced intervals to provide a series of soft folds across the face of the fabric. Consequently, the typical Roman shade has a cascaded or softly pleated appearance. Such Roman shades are constructed so that when they are raised, they gather from the bottom in generally horizontal folds or pleats until the entire shade resides near the top of the window covering. In some versions, the top of the window covering may also be lowered. The shades are operated by pulling on control members, which are attached to the shade. The control members are usually secured to a bottom portion of the panel with adhesive, ultrasonic welding, sewing, tying or the like. An alternative to the conventional Roman shade is disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/427,829. Unlike the standard Roman shade, the Roman style shade disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/427,829 enables the opening of the individual rows to create gaps in the face of the shade without requiring the entire shade to be raised. Co-pending application Ser. No. 10/427,829 is hereby incorporated by reference.
Another common type of window covering is a Venetian blind. Venetian blinds are typically constructed of a plurality of slats that are supported by a pair of ladders, which are controlled by an adjustment mechanism in a head rail. The ladder typically includes a pair of parallel cords suspended from the head rail and connected to a bottom rail. A number of rungs span across the parallel cords and support the slats. An alternative to the conventional Venetian blind is disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/413,200. Unlike the conventional Venetian blind, the blind disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/413,200 utilizes non-ladder control members and has a configuration that allows the slats to conceal the control members and holes for the control cords when the slats are closed. Co-pending application Ser. No. 10/413,200 is also hereby incorporated by reference.
With both Venetian blinds and Roman shades, the various control members are permanently secured to the light blocking elements. As such, there is a general lack of ability to releasably secure the light blocking elements from the control members. Even with the designs in the co-pending applications there is a lack of a releasable attachment mechanism which enables one to easily attach or release the control cords from the panels. Accordingly, there is no ability to easily select particular rows or portions of a window shade to be opened, while other portions remain closed. For example, when tilting the slats of a conventional Venetian blind, all of the slats must be opened or closed at the same time. Also, the removal of entire panels, such as for cleaning, is difficult, if not impossible. The inability to easily remove panels is especially troublesome with fabric-type window coverings which are not easily cleaned while installed.
The present invention overcomes these shortcomings by providing a fastener module that enables selectable and detachable engagement of the various rows of a window covering with the control members, and also permits entire panels of a window covering to be easily removed or interchanged.